What are these?

There's a lot of bored people right now. We should use the collective power supply f the internet for good, instead of evil. 

Still convinced it's a hoax. 

I still think, if they are real and not a hoax, that they involve rope, yarn, twine or the like and it gets wrapped around the shaft between the two handles. Perhaps the square (or slotted) end is the drive end. No idea why there is a point on the other end though. reminds me of a marlinspike, which may be why I think the handles are just guides to wind line between.

I keep thinking they have something to do with knitting or looms or something like that.

I just read the first 3 pages of this thread, waiting for the punchline.

T.J. said:

I still think, if they are real and not a hoax, that they involve rope, yarn, twine or the like and it gets wrapped around the shaft between the two handles. Perhaps the square (or slotted) end is the drive end. No idea why there is a point on the other end though. reminds me of a marlinspike, which may be why I think the handles are just guides to wind line between.

I keep thinking they have something to do with knitting or looms or something like that.

I agree, 100%

They are projects in some long forgotten shop class.

Could they be some sort of pin for a hasp style lock? 

Like so 

Showed my bride, she suggested maybe an old-fashioned nail punch of some sort?

The tapering point has to serve a real purpose. Form generally follows function. So I think the tapering end is for inserting into something. I wonder if it's used for something like a needle; poke it through something, a thread gets pushed through a little hole in the tapered end, and it gets withdrawn, pulling the thread back through whatever the "tool" was pushed through? Kind of like a big needle of some sort that wasn't mounted in a machine? Handles for extra grip for pushing or pulling back through?

In reply to Stampie :

Ok, I'm going back to your original post:

 

Someone brought these to a librarian and wanted to know what they are. The librarians are stumped as am I. 
 

Do you know these librarians?  Where are they located?  What region of the country?  Did the librarians see a picture, or the actual objects?

Glad this came back up, because the house we just bought had this:

It strikes me as similar.

In reply to Hungary Bill :

That's called a garden dibble. It's used for planting seeds and bulbs. 

I think they're tuning pegs for a string instrument.

Not necessarily a shamisen but a shamisen uses huge pegs:

https://www.britannica.com/art/samisen

In reply to SVreX :

TIL, a garden dibble.

In reply to SVreX :

IIRC it was not local but started in a libraian group that ask each other to help.  All the local saw was the above picture.

Here we are, getting close to three years later...

I'm really surprised no one has this. Maybe we should rub some horse blood on it. 

Maybe we just chalk it up as the one thing GRM can't figure out? I mean, I never condone giving up, but if this hive can't find the answer I'm not sure anyone can. 

ShawnG said:

I think they're tuning pegs for a string instrument.

Not necessarily a shamisen but a shamisen uses huge pegs:

https://www.britannica.com/art/samisen

You're probably right. Id do some tuning peg digging later. 

barefootskater (Shaun) said:

Maybe we just chalk it up as the one thing GRM can't figure out? I mean, I never condone giving up, but if this hive can't find the answer I'm not sure anyone can. 

I forget about them for months at a time, and then somebody posts a "What is this?" that gets figured out in 45 minutes and then I remember about these, and then they bother me for an hour or two, and then I forget about them for months at a time...

Brett_Murphy (Ex-Patrón) said:

barefootskater (Shaun) said:

Maybe we just chalk it up as the one thing GRM can't figure out? I mean, I never condone giving up, but if this hive can't find the answer I'm not sure anyone can. 

I forget about them for months at a time, and then somebody posts a "What is this?" that gets figured out in 45 minutes and then I remember about these, and then they bother me for an hour or two, and then I forget about them for months at a time...

Yeah, I think about this occasionally. I always think that the answer had been found and I just missed it.

Brett_Murphy said:

I'm really surprised the truth behind the original picture hasn't come out, yet.

 

the one whom i'd guess would be savvy to the original pictures would be "Crackers" .....calling crackers

Brett_Murphy said:

I'm really surprised the truth behind the original picture hasn't come out, yet.

 

the one whom i'd guess would be savvy to the original pictures would be "Crackers" .....calling crackers

I kind of bothers me that we still haven't figured this out yet.

If we find the answer, will 2020 be over?

They're fidget spinners for your mind.